the internet never forgets

We all have those moments we’d like to forget. Or, more accurately, we all have those moments we’d like everyone else to forget. And for these situations, Instagram is debuting its best new feature since the Hudson filter: the option to archive posts, rather than simply delete them. Delivered in an update rolling out this week, the new feature lets you go to any old image, tap into the options, and hit “archive.” The post will go into a private gallery. And if you ever want to return it to your feed, there’s a button to unarchive it, too.

I’d like to see every social media service borrow the idea. Because it’s a stupidly perfect solution to a huge problem: that while we grow into ever-more realized versions of ourselves every day, we’re nonetheless trailed by permanent evidence of every dumb thing we’ve said or photographed on the internet in our earlier, stupider days.